Online Survey Spawning, Administration And Management

ABSTRACT

A method and apparatus for spawning and management of online surveys is provided. An administration and redirector subsystem (ARS) is used manage ongoing surveys for a plurality of sites. Surveys can be added to or removed from individual sites using the ARS. The ARS also tracks statistics for individual surveys. Redirector tags invite users to participate in surveys and track user survey participation through cookies. The system can be used to conduct advertisement effectiveness studies. Tracker tags and corresponding cookies are used to track users who have viewed content containing the tag. Each study is issued a unique content tag, but uses the same redirector tag.

PRIORITY CLAIM

This application claims the benefit as a Continuation of applicationSer. No. 11/811,963, filed Jun. 12, 2007, titled “Online SurveySpawning, Administration and Management”, the entire contents of whichis hereby incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein, under35 U.S.C. §120. The applicant hereby rescinds any disclaimer of claimscope in the parent application or the prosecution history thereof andadvises the USPTO that the claims in this application may be broaderthan any claim in the parent application.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to web survey recruitment systems.

BACKGROUND

The approaches described in this section are approaches that could bepursued, but not necessarily approaches that have been previouslyconceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it shouldnot be assumed that any of the approaches described in this sectionqualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion in thissection.

A number of internet publishing business models exist. One publishingbusiness model includes three players: advertisers, market researchersand publishers. Publishers create web sites that provide content whichgenerates user traffic. User traffic attracts advertisers and allowspublishers to sell advertisement space. Advertisements are typicallystored on a central ad server. The ad server can either be part of alarge advertisement network, or managed by the publisher. User trafficalso attracts market researchers, who also may use advertisement spacefor conducting surveys.

For the purpose of explanation, reference shall be made to ahypothetical web publisher WePublish. In order to maximize revenue, theweb site of WePublish can run a number advertisement campaigns andresearch initiatives concurrently. One such advertisement campaign AC1could be created by a hypothetical advertiser WeAdvertise, hired by acar manufacturer. The WeAdvertise ad campaign for the car manufacturermay include three advertisements: AD1, AD2 and AD3. To measure theeffectiveness of the advertisement campaign, the car manufacturer mayhire a hypothetical market research firm WeResearch to conduct a surveySV1 to measure the effectiveness of the ad campaign.

Advertisement effectiveness can be measured by administering a survey totwo groups of people: a test group and a control group. The test grouphas seen one or more advertisements from the ad campaign under study,while the control group has not. The difference between how the twogroups answer the survey indicates the advertisement campaign'seffectiveness. An ad campaign whose effectiveness is being measured by asurvey is referred to herein as “measured campaign”.

To test the effectiveness of survey SV1, WeResearch must accuratelyassign the takers of the survey SV1 to either the control group or thetest group. One technique that market research companies may use todetermine whether to assign a survey taker to the test group or thecontrol group is to use a “tracking tag” to place “tracking cookies” onthe machines of users that have been exposed to the advertisements of ameasured campaign.

A tag is a snippet of executable code. When a tag is included in a pagethat is sent to a browser, the executable code of the tag typicallyexecutes when the browser decodes the page. In the case of a trackingtag, execution of the code places a tracking cookie on the machine onwhich the browser that decoded the page that contains the tag isexecuting.

For example, WeResearch may issue to WeAdvertise a tracking tag TT1 forthe ad campaign AC1. Typically, one tracking tag is used per measuredcampaign, but sometimes multiple tracking tags are used. If anadvertiser has ads for multiple measured campaigns, each measuredcampaign would typically have a unique tracking tag.

Advertisers insert the tracking tag for each particular measuredcampaign into the ads that belong to the measured campaign. In thepresent example, WeAdvertise would place the tracking tag TT1 intoadvertisements AD1, AD2 and AD3. The advertisements, including theembedded tracking tags, are then served to publishers by the ad server.The publishers include the ads in web pages sent to users by thepublishers.

In the present example, WePublish would include AD1, AD2 and AD3 in webpages sent by WePublish to users. Whenever a user sees a web page thatcontains an advertisement that has a tracking tag for a particular adcampaign, the tracking tag places on the user's machine a cookieindicating that a user was exposed to an advertisement that belongs tothat particular ad campaign. Thus, when a user views a web page fromWePublish that includes any of ads AD1, AD2 and AD3, the tracking tagTT1 embedded in the ad causes a tracking cookie TC1 to be placed on theuser's machine. The tracking cookie TC1 indicates that the user has beenpresented with an advertisement from ad campaign AC1.

To invite survey takers to take survey SV1, WeResearch creates a“survey-invitation tag” SIT1 for the survey SV1 for the ad campaign AC1.WeResearch then embeds the survey-invitation tag SIT1 in a banner B1that does not contain any information relating to ad campaign AC1.Banner B1 may then be added into the advertisement rotation. Such emptyadvertisements are known as house advertisements or PSA. If a user isexposed to a house advertisement, the survey-invitation tag in thebanner (1) presents to the user an invitation to take the surveyassociated with the survey-invitation tag, and (2) reads the user'scookie information to determine whether the user has been exposed to adsfrom the corresponding campaign. For example, when user are exposed tobanner B1, SIT1 present the user with an invitation to take survey SV1,and read the user's cookie information to determine whether the user hasbeen exposed to advertisements from ad campaign AC1.

At any given time, the ads that are included in the web pages that arebeing served by a publisher may belong to many concurrently runningmeasured campaigns. For example, in addition to advertisements AD1, AD2and AD3, WePublish web pages may include advertisements from many othermeasured campaigns AC2-AC50. Unfortunately, the existence of largenumbers of concurrently-running campaigns, each of which have their owncorresponding survey-invitation tag and survey, presents a number ofchallenges to the publisher.

For example, separate research initiatives are typically unaware of eachother. Therefore, the survey invitation for each measured campaign ispresented to users without regard to whether the users have receivedsurvey invitations for other measured campaigns. Consequently, someusers may be served a disproportionately large number of surveyinvitations, while others none at all. Further, a single web page mayhave multiple survey invitation tags. This would make the site appear ashaving a large number of popups and reduce perception of site quality.

The integration and management of survey-invitation tags also presents alarge burden on the web site publisher. Because every advertisementcampaign and research initiative requires distinct house advertisementand survey-invitation tags, the management burden increases with thenumber of studies and advertisement campaigns. Moreover, because everystudy requires a house advertisement to embed the survey-invitation tagand recruit survey takers, there is a loss of a revenue stream to thepublisher.

There is clearly a need for a system that allows efficient management ofadvertisement campaigns, research initiatives and their correspondingtags to reduce the programming and maintenance burden on the publisher,to allow for controlled spawning of surveys and to eliminate houseadvertisements to increase revenue for the publisher.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The present invention is illustrated by way of example, and not by wayof limitation, in the figures of the accompanying drawings and in whichlike reference numerals refer to similar elements and in which:

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of survey recruitment, according to anembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram of survey selection, according to an embodimentof the present invention; and

FIG. 3 is an example computer system computer system, according to anembodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerousspecific details are set forth in order to provide a thoroughunderstanding of the present invention. It will be apparent, however,that the present invention may be practiced without these specificdetails. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shownin block diagram form in order to avoid unnecessarily obscuring thepresent invention.

Overview

Techniques are provided for replacing survey-invitation tags, whichpreviously had to be created and managed on a per-campaign basis, with asingle “redirector” tag. The redirector tag recruits surveyparticipants, facilitates proper grouping for each participant, andtracks which surveys have been completed. A single redirector taghandles these functions for multiple surveys on a site.

The redirector tag is not tied to any particular survey, researchinitiative, or campaign. Instead, the redirector tag has code which,when executed, selects an appropriate survey among a pool ofcurrently-active surveys. The redirector tag then causes the survey, oran invitation to the survey, to be presented to the user whose machinedecoded the page that contained the redirector tag. The redirector tagmay be distributed to publishers in the same manner as survey-invitationtags, such as continuously ad served, or ad hoc ad served. However,unlike survey-invitation tags, the redirector tag may also bedisseminated by hardcoded placement within the web pages of a publisher.Further, unlike the survey-invitation tags, the redirector tag may beplaced in web pages without regard to which advertisements those webpages contain.

In addition to selecting and presenting a survey invitation, the code ofthe redirector tag may perform other functions to improve userexperience. For example, the code of the redirector tag may gatherinformation upon which survey selection may be based. Thus, theredirector tag may signal to the AR to read the cookie informationplaced by previously-executed tracking cookies, as well as indicateinformation about the web page in which the redirector tag was embedded.In addition, the redirector tag may store cookie information that isused by later-executed redirector tags. The cookie information stored bythe redirector tag may be, for example, a timestamp indicating the mostrecent time that the user was presented with any survey invitation. Alater-executed redirector tag may cause the AR to read the timestamp,and determine that it is too soon to present the user with anothersurvey invitation. In another embodiment of the present invention, thefunctionality of the redirector tag can be incorporated into the trackertag. Therefore tracking of advertisements as well as spawning andtracking of surveys is handled by a single tag.

The Recruitment Process

FIG. 1 illustrates steps in a survey participant recruitment process.The components involved in the recruiting process are collectivelyreferred to herein as the administration and recruiting (AR) subsystem.The recruitment process begins when a user visits a web page thatcontains a redirector tag 101. The redirector tag causes the ARsubsystem to determine whether any survey invitation should be presentedto the user. This decision may be based on information provided bysurvey administrators and publishers.

Specifically, survey administrators and publishers may have previouslyprovided the AR subsystem with data that specifies the conditions uponwhich invitations are spawned. For example, in an embodiment,invitations are spawned at a predetermined sample rate 102. The ratecould be based on loading of a particular page, or a page loading for apredetermined number of times, or a count of unique users visiting apage. If spawning conditions are met, then survey recruitment processprogresses to select an appropriate survey (step 103), otherwise therecruitment process exits.

A survey is picked based on a variety of factors, including theinformation that the redirector tag provides to the AR subsystem. Suchinformation may include, for example, a “referring URL” of the pagewhose display cause the redirector tag to execute. The referring URL mayindicate, for example, that the user was viewing a sports-oriented webpage. Based on this information, the AR subsystem may decide to select asurvey that is related to sports. On the other hand, the AR subsystemmay decide not to send any survey invitation at all, based on thereferring URL.

Additional factors may include the priority, participant eligibility,and whether a quota has been met. The survey selection may also be basedon which tracking cookie information retrieved from the user by theredirector tag. Such tracking cooking information may indicate, forexample, that the user has been exposed to certain ad campaigns. If itis particularly important to find members of the test group for aparticular campaign, then the tracking information may be used to pick asurvey for which the user would be in the test group. On the other hand,if it is particularly important to find members of a control group for aparticular ad campaign, then users that were not exposed to theadvertisement can be selected. The survey selection process by the ARsubsystem is outlined in greater detail in FIG. 2.

Once a survey is selected and a user is placed in the appropriate group,the redirector tag generates an invitation for the user to take theselected survey 104. The invitation may be presented in a variety offorms. For example, the invitation may be a banner, a pop-up, etc.According to one embodiment, the redirector tag is placed in the“footer” portion of a web-page, to allow for a “polite” download. Thatis, content of the Web site is loaded first, and the redirector tag isonly executed after the user is seeing the content of the requested webpage.

If user completes the selected survey 105, then the AR subsystem createsor modifies a redirector cookie on the client to note surveyparticipation 106. The AR subsystem updates its count of participantsfor that particular survey and group 107. The survey is shut off oncethe quota for number of respondents for each group has been met.

The AR subsystem manages ongoing surveys for multiple sites/publishers.In an embodiment, each site has a unique redirector tag. The ARsubsystem has a secure web interface. The AR subsystem keeps variousstatistics for each survey group, such as study, control and viewthrough. View through is to exposure to brand advertising but not thespecific campaign which is being tested. For each group, a count of thenumber of impressions as well as completions is kept. The priority ofeach survey can be set, as well as start and expiration time.

Significantly, a survey administrator can add or remove a survey to theactive survey pool without sending to publishers any tags for the newsurvey. Rather, if a survey is to be fielded at a site that already hasan embedded redirector tag, the tag remains unaltered and an additionalredirector tag does not need to be issued. The AR subsystem adds thesurvey to a list of ongoing surveys for a site, and the existingredirector tag redirects users to the newly added survey. Conversely, ifa publisher or administrator disables a survey, the survey is removedfrom the active list of surveys on a site automatically, without havingto communicate to the sites that the survey is no longer active.

Survey Selection

Referring to FIG. 2, the redirector tag communicates information to theAR subsystem 201. As mentioned above, the information may include thereferring URL, tracker cookies, and redirector cookies. Based on thesite communicated by the redirector tag, the AR subsystem determines alist of ongoing surveys 202. Participant eligibility is determined fromtracker and redirector cookies.

Content of redirector cookies is examined to determine which surveys auser has participated in, if any 203. If a user has already participatedin any of the ongoing surveys, those surveys are removed from the listof candidate surveys for the user. The AR subsystem also determines whatadvertisements the user has been exposed to from tracker cookies 204.The AR subsystem then consults its internal records to see whether eachgroup (test/control) in the survey list requires additional participants204. The AR subsystem combines the exposure and participationinformation to determine final eligibility. The survey is picked fromthe list based on study priority 206. The AR subsystem proceeds to placethe user in the appropriate group 207 which can be test or control orany other group used in the study.

EXAMPLE

For the purpose of explanation, consider a scenario in which WeAdvertisehas agreements to run various advertisement campaigns on WePublish. Oneof the advertising campaigns may be advertising campaign AC1, whichincludes a series of ads for a car company to promote a new coupe.WeAdvertise creates a set of advertisements depicting the coupe andbegins rotation of the ads on WePublish.

Assume that WeResearch has been engaged by the car manufacturer todetermine the effectiveness of the campaign AC1. The car manufacturermay specify the target completion date for the effectiveness survey SV1and the number of respondents needed for each group (control and test)of potential survey takers.

WeResearch registers the awareness survey SV1 with the AR subsystem. Theregistration information may specify the survey trigger condition, whichcould be based on multiple factors, such as target completion date, anacceptable rate of invitations, and specific pages from whichinvitations can be spawned. Once the survey is enabled, it is added tothe list of available surveys for a redirector tag.

If WeResearch has already provided a redirector tag to WePublish forother surveys, WeResearch need not provide WePublish with any new tags.The new survey SV1 automatically becomes a candidate survey to show tovisitors to the WePublish site. If WePublish does not already have aredirector tag from WeResearch, WeResearch would issue a singleredirector tag to WePublish. WePublish may statically embed theredirector tag into the footers of the web pages that WePublish sends tousers. WeResearch also issues tracking tags to WeAdvertise. WeAdvertiseembeds the tracker tags in each ad of the car manufacturer advertisementcampaign AC1.

Another survey SV2 may be added to the WeResearch pool for a sportinggoods company who wants to learn from sports fans about their designs.Specifically, the sporting goods company contacts WeResearch to conductthe survey. WeResearch adds the sports opinion survey SV2 to the list ofactive surveys that are associated with a redirector tag previouslyprovided to WePublish. The active survey list for WePublish will nowinclude two surveys: SV1 and SV2.

The sporting goods manufacturer may require a very fast turnaround timefor their survey, and request that WeResearch prioritize the study.Because a single tag controls spawning of all surveys, the triggerconditions for surveys are adjusted to provide an acceptable rate ofsurvey takers for SV2.

When a visitor retrieves a web page from WePublish, two events occur.First, the redirector tag determines whether conditions to trigger aninvitation to take a survey have been met. Second, if there areadvertisements for the coupe present on the page, the tracker tagembedded in the advertisement places or modifies a tracker cookie on theuser's machine to indicate that the user was exposed to theadvertisement.

Assuming that the survey invitation trigger conditions are met, theredirector tag also sends to the AR subsystem any tracker or redirectorcookie information, and the URL of the page. From the tag identityinformation, the site redirector determines a list of ongoing surveys onthe site: car and sports manufacturer.

Because the sporting goods manufacturer obtained higher priority, thesporting goods survey invitation is selected for presentation. The websurfer may refuse to participate in that particular survey. If thesurfer refuses, the redirector tag will place or modify the redirectorcookie on the user's machine to indicate the user did not want toparticipate in the survey. In the event that the user participates inthe survey, the redirector tag modifies the redirector cookie to specifythat the user took the survey. In either case, the redirector tag willnot issue survey invitations for that particular survey to that useragain.

The same web surfer may continue browsing the sports web site andeventually successfully trigger another survey invitation. As describedearlier, the redirector tag sends web site identity information and aswell as a redirector cookie and tracker cookies from all of the ongoingadvertisement and research campaigns to the redirector andadministration subsystem. The redirector produces a list of ongoingsurveys for that particular redirector tag: car coupe and sporting goodmanufacturer.

The redirector examines redirector cookie information and determinesthat the user has refused to take the sporting goods survey. Theredirector removes the sporting goods survey from the available list ofsurveys. In our example the only survey that is left is by the carcompany. The tracker cookies are examined by the redirector, and it isdetermined that the web surfer was already exposed to the caradvertisements.

The web surfer is placed in the test group. A web page is generated witha survey invitation. The invitation is tied to the car company survey.Upon completion of the survey, the redirector tag modifies the controlredirector that the user has completed the survey. In this example,because the user has completed every survey that was administered on thesite, even if triggering a survey invitation, the redirector will nolonger generate web pages with survey invitations because the user hascompleted all the surveys.

Hardware Overview

FIG. 3 is a block diagram that illustrates a computer system 300 uponwhich an embodiment of the invention may be implemented. Computer system300 includes a bus 302 or other communication mechanism forcommunicating information, and a processor 304 coupled with bus 302 forprocessing information. Computer system 300 also includes a main memory306, such as a random access memory (RAM) or other dynamic storagedevice, coupled to bus 302 for storing information and instructions tobe executed by processor 304. Main memory 306 also may be used forstoring temporary variables or other intermediate information duringexecution of instructions to be executed by processor 304. Computersystem 300 further includes a read only memory (ROM) 308 or other staticstorage device coupled to bus 302 for storing static information andinstructions for processor 304. A storage device 310, such as a magneticdisk or optical disk, is provided and coupled to bus 302 for storinginformation and instructions.

Computer system 300 may be coupled via bus 302 to a display 312, such asa cathode ray tube (CRT), for displaying information to a computer user.An input device 314, including alphanumeric and other keys, is coupledto bus 302 for communicating information and command selections toprocessor 304. Another type of user input device is cursor control 316,such as a mouse, a trackball, or cursor direction keys for communicatingdirection information and command selections to processor 304 and forcontrolling cursor movement on display 312. This input device typicallyhas two degrees of freedom in two axes, a first axis (e.g., x) and asecond axis (e.g., y), that allows the device to specify positions in aplane.

The invention is related to the use of computer system 300 forimplementing the techniques described herein. According to oneembodiment of the invention, those techniques are performed by computersystem 300 in response to processor 304 executing one or more sequencesof one or more instructions contained in main memory 306. Suchinstructions may be read into main memory 306 from anothermachine-readable medium, such as storage device 310. Execution of thesequences of instructions contained in main memory 306 causes processor304 to perform the process steps described herein. In alternativeembodiments, hard-wired circuitry may be used in place of or incombination with software instructions to implement the invention. Thus,embodiments of the invention are not limited to any specific combinationof hardware circuitry and software.

The term “machine-readable medium” as used herein refers to any mediumthat participates in providing data that causes a machine to operationin a specific fashion. In an embodiment implemented using computersystem 300, various machine-readable media are involved, for example, inproviding instructions to processor 304 for execution. Such a medium maytake many forms, including but not limited to, non-volatile media,volatile media, and transmission media. Non-volatile media includes, forexample, optical or magnetic disks, such as storage device 310. Volatilemedia includes dynamic memory, such as main memory 306. Transmissionmedia includes coaxial cables, copper wire and fiber optics, includingthe wires that comprise bus 302. Transmission media can also take theform of acoustic or light waves, such as those generated duringradio-wave and infra-red data communications. All such media must betangible to enable the instructions carried by the media to be detectedby a physical mechanism that reads the instructions into a machine.

Common forms of machine-readable media include, for example, a floppydisk, a flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, or any other magneticmedium, a CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punchcards, papertape, anyother physical medium with patterns of holes, a RAM, a PROM, and EPROM,a FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, a carrier wave asdescribed hereinafter, or any other medium from which a computer canread.

Various forms of machine-readable media may be involved in carrying oneor more sequences of one or more instructions to processor 304 forexecution. For example, the instructions may initially be carried on amagnetic disk of a remote computer. The remote computer can load theinstructions into its dynamic memory and send the instructions over atelephone line using a modem. A modem local to computer system 300 canreceive the data on the telephone line and use an infra-red transmitterto convert the data to an infra-red signal. An infra-red detector canreceive the data carried in the infra-red signal and appropriatecircuitry can place the data on bus 302. Bus 302 carries the data tomain memory 306, from which processor 304 retrieves and executes theinstructions. The instructions received by main memory 306 mayoptionally be stored on storage device 310 either before or afterexecution by processor 304.

Computer system 300 also includes a communication interface 318 coupledto bus 302. Communication interface 318 provides a two-way datacommunication coupling to a network link 320 that is connected to alocal network 322. For example, communication interface 318 may be anintegrated services digital network (ISDN) card or a modem to provide adata communication connection to a corresponding type of telephone line.As another example, communication interface 318 may be a local areanetwork (LAN) card to provide a data communication connection to acompatible LAN. Wireless links may also be implemented. In any suchimplementation, communication interface 318 sends and receiveselectrical, electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital datastreams representing various types of information.

Network link 320 typically provides data communication through one ormore networks to other data devices. For example, network link 320 mayprovide a connection through local network 322 to a host computer 324 orto data equipment operated by an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 326.ISP 326 in turn provides data communication services through the worldwide packet data communication network now commonly referred to as the“Internet” 328. Local network 322 and Internet 328 both use electrical,electromagnetic or optical signals that carry digital data streams. Thesignals through the various networks and the signals on network link 320and through communication interface 318, which carry the digital data toand from computer system 300, are exemplary forms of carrier wavestransporting the information.

Computer system 300 can send messages and receive data, includingprogram code, through the network(s), network link 320 and communicationinterface 318. In the Internet example, a server 330 might transmit arequested code for an application program through Internet 328, ISP 326,local network 322 and communication interface 318.

The received code may be executed by processor 304 as it is received,and/or stored in storage device 310, or other non-volatile storage forlater execution. In this manner, computer system 300 may obtainapplication code in the form of a carrier wave.

In the foregoing specification, embodiments of the invention have beendescribed with reference to numerous specific details that may vary fromimplementation to implementation. Thus, the sole and exclusive indicatorof what is the invention, and is intended by the applicants to be theinvention, is the set of claims that issue from this application, in thespecific form in which such claims issue, including any subsequentcorrection. Any definitions expressly set forth herein for termscontained in such claims shall govern the meaning of such terms as usedin the claims. Hence, no limitation, element, property, feature,advantage or attribute that is not expressly recited in a claim shouldlimit the scope of such claim in any way. The specification and drawingsare, accordingly, to be regarded in an illustrative rather than arestrictive sense.

1. A method of administering surveys, the method comprising: including,in a web page provided by a publisher to a client, a tag that causescookie information stored at the client to be provided from the clientto a redirector in response to the web page being decoded at saidclient; wherein the cookie information was placed by tags associatedwith content items that were sent to the client before the web page wasprovided to the client; wherein the cookie information includes anidentifier of a first ad campaign, of a plurality of ad campaigns, thatis associated with the content items that were sent to the client beforethe web page was provided to the client; the redirector using theidentifier of the first ad campaign in said cookie information to selectone of a plurality of surveys; wherein a first survey of the pluralityof surveys is associated with the first ad campaign and a second surveyof the plurality of surveys is associated with a second ad campaign ofthe plurality of ad campaigns; and causing an invitation to the selectedsurvey to be displayed; wherein the method is performed by one or morecomputing devices.
 2. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storingone or more sequences of instructions which, when executed by one ormore processors, cause performance of: including, in a web page providedby a publisher to a client, a tag that causes cookie information storedat the client to be provided from the client to a redirector in responseto the web page being decoded at said client; wherein the cookieinformation was placed by tags associated with content items that weresent to the client before the web page was provided to the client;wherein the cookie information includes an identifier of a first adcampaign, of a plurality of ad campaigns, that is associated with thecontent items that were sent to the client before the web page wasprovided to the client; the redirector using the identifier of the firstad campaign in said cookie information to select one of a plurality ofsurveys; wherein a first survey of the plurality of surveys isassociated with the first ad campaign and a second survey of theplurality of surveys is associated with a second ad campaign of theplurality of ad campaigns; and causing an invitation to the selectedsurvey to be displayed.